Happy Memorial Day. Remember Our Troops



Update. If you have real good eyesight, you can almost see Google's "tribute" to Memorial Day--you know, the site that celebrates every non-American holiday you can think of? Keep it real, Google. Seriously, if this is the best you can do, then just forget it.

What we'd like to see more of...

Obama has been dumped by a top Jewish donor, according to American Thinker. Haim Saban is a billionaire Israeli-American donor who gives his money to--who else--the Dems. The article calls him one of the biggest individual supports to the Dim Party; he says that Obama needs to visit Israel as he has other Middle East countries. --Oh, they could sell tickets to that!

It's starting to become clear that Obama blundered, big time, with his speech last Thursday. In key swing states, says AT, --Florida, Pennsylvania, and Ohio--Jews are more numerous than in most of the country. If these people will actually WAKE UP and see that Obama is no friend to the Jews (exactly what else does he need to do to get the attention of these people?), a swing in the Jewish vote away from Obama in 2012 could keep him from being reelected.

Here's an interesting article that asks the question, "Why is [Obama] so quick to distrust Israel, while so eager to appease Palestinians?"

Bret Stephens has written this article for the WSJ: "An Anti-Israel President." Stephens calls Obama's behavior--his sandbagging speech on Thursday and his speech at AIPAC on Sunday--"contempt...a thin tissue of falsehoods, rhetorical legerdemain, telling omissions and self-contradictions. Let's count the ways."

I found this video about Israel's borders on one of my favorite sites, Seraphic Secret.

She has 29 people to help her look (and act) the part of First Lady

Seriously. Is this the best Michelle Obama can do? Any professional, adult woman knows that shiny full mini-skirts are best left for a middle-school end-of-year dance. Will someone please tell this woman that no one--seriously, no one--wants to see her looking this way. It doesn't take some genius advance people to predict that FLOTUS might encounter wind on this trip, so she ought to dress appropriately. Frankly, she ought to dress appropriately, regardless. Does this woman not own ONE soft suit or dress/coat ensemble that she could wear for these daytime events--instead of that shiny bubble gum pink (too tight--her personal sartorial signature) bolero? Pink? A great color for six-year-olds. And those sling-back kitten heel pumps in goose-shit green for midday--don't get me started.

h/t to MOTUS and the wonderful commenters at my favorite blog, Michelle Obama's Mirror's Blog. These kinds of shots only happen when the O's are outside of U.S. control and real pictures (rather than the constantly photoshopped beauties) of our MOOCHelle are given to the press. A pic like this would never get past White House censorship control in the U.S. This woman is embarrassing. Note too that she's the only one laughing.

The Telegraph describes the above photo as "US first lady Michelle Obama...desperately protecting her modesty" during a windy ceremony. "The blast also caused havoc with the first lady's hair [um, we call that her 'wig hat'], which was left standing on end at one point." Snort.

MailOnline said Mrs. Obama's said her pale blue floral Fifties gown "is just too prom and girly for the wife of the President." I'll translate that for you, Michelle. You're not being taken seriously on the world stage.

Oh, and P.S. Is it not a fact that Mitchell is from "the Windy City"? Just askin'. So it's sort of like she's not ever not encountered wind before, right? These people are such an embarrassment. Don't get me started on Barry's toast (read from NOTE CARDS, no less) to the Queen. Meh.

Benjamin Netanyahu Speaks

Here is a link to Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech at AIPAC on Monday night. Today he will speak to the U.S. Congress.

Update. Netanyahu made his speech to Congress. He was interrupted 57 times with applause. He was also interrupted once by a noisy protester, which was nothing--quickly dealt with--yet that's the headline at CBS News. Is it any wonder that the lamestream press is becoming increasingly irrelevant?

We are not occupying the region--Israel is our homeland, Netanyahu told Congress. Jerusalem must remain undivided. Also, "We will not return to the indefensible boundaries of 1967." And in case Obama isn't paying attention, while he's off on his Obamaland vaycay in Great Britain or whatever he's doing, he should check out the response to that statement, here.

Update #2. One of my favorite blogs, Seraphic Secret, weighs in on Netanyahu's speech.

A picture is worth 1,000 words

This is Bibi and Barry, both pictured in their early 20s. h/t Lucianne.com

Herman Cain Is In

Herman Cain threw his hat into the ring yesterday, running as a Republican candidate for POTUS. I don't know Herman Cain, but I think he's certainly someone to watch. Chances are he's not going to be a leftist media darling like John McCain was--just sayin'. His background: from South Carolina, Cain has a Bachelor's degree in math, Master's degree in computer science, former Navy analyst, former president and CEO of the fourth largest pizza chain in the country (Godfather's), former chairman of the board for the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, great speaking ability (able to think on his feet, probably won't have to be constantly plugged into a teleprompter), and an abiding commitment to conservative principles and small government.

You know, one thing we have to thank Obama for: we've already done the blackety, black, black, black, awesome, awesome, awesome thing with him, so we don't EVER have to do that again. We can simply look at the guy's qualifications and not the color of his skin (gee, where have I heard that one before--oh yeah, Martin Luther King). So thank you, Barry Barack Obama Soetoro Soebarkah! Although considering the double standard and hypocrisy of the left, watch for them to come out with an "Uncle Tom" meme for Cain.

This is Herman Cain taking on a group of liberals who were looking for a fight at one of his events. He gave them one. Heh.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOJxQ7umeVw&feature=related

Charles Krauthammer has said that Herman Cain's candidacy is for "entertainment purposes only." Really Charles? I don't think people like you get it, Charles. We are sick of the status quo, coming from both sides of the aisle.

Update. In his interview with Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday this morning, Herman Cain just had a "Sarah Palin moment"--Wallace asked him about Israel and Palestine and the "right of return," and it was pretty clear that Cain didn't know what Wallace was referring to. He managed to stumble through an answer, but it was a very bad moment.

Stand With Israel

You don't have to be "the smartest guy in the room," Barry Soetoro, to understand why

(--oh, he doesn't use that name anymore? What is his legal name, anyway? I guess I'll just change my name to Bernadette Fricke--and don't ask me for my documents proving my name change, please. We should all, just like Barack Hussein Barry Soetoro Soebarkah Obama get to use whatever name we fancy. Plus if I want to use some dead guy's SSN from Connecticut, a state I've never set foot in, that should be OK, too. --but I digress--)

the Golan Heights, land captured from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War, is important to Israel's security. Just look at a map. For a discussion about why surrender of the Golan would be a "reckless act" for Israel, see "Defensible Borders on the Golan Heights," by Maj.-Gen. (res.) Giora Eiland.

I'm very glad to hear there are some principled people in Washington who are unwilling to just sit by while Barack Hussein Obama sells one of our oldest allies down the river. On Friday, Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) announced that he would introduce a congressional resolution disapproving of Obama's stance on Israel's border lines, saying that his position "threatens Israel's security."

Says Hatch, "Rather than stand by Israel against consistent unprovoked aggression by longtime supporters of terrorism, President Obama is rewarding those who threaten Israel's very right to exist. This is not only ridiculous, but dangerous.

"There is strong disapproval in Congress for the President's new posture towards Israel, and I will introduce a resolution next week affirming Israel's right to maintain its territorial integrity."

This is from an article at American Thinker by Joshua Lipana, "Why Israel cannot trade land for peace": "Israel [unlike the Islamists in Palestine]...respects its citizens' individual rights. It is by this virtue that their sovereignty is legitimate. It is also the reason why Israel is supported by liberty loving people all over the world."

And, for a little comedy relief--with a point--go to Andrew Breitbart's Big Peace and read: "Netanyahu Urges U.S. Return to 1845 Borders."

Here are the shifting sands of Obama's position on Israel. h/t UK Mail online.

Slapdown!
Bibi to Barry: "Watch me and I'll show you how it's done"

CAPTION CONTEST??


Watching Netenyahu today school Obama in statesmanship was a thing of beauty. Jim Hoft at Gateway Pundit has the video. h/t to GP who has been all over this issue ever since Obama's speech.

Update. Rush Limbaugh has a nice discusion of the meeting between the Adult in the room and President ManChild. Someone said, let's get Bibi a Hawaiian birth certificate so he can run for POTUS--haha. Limbaugh is calling Benjamin Netanyahu the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination. Rush has a transcript of Netanyahu plus his running comments. Screaming.

Limbaugh: The Republican Party was shown all they have to do--and it doesn't involve shouting, and it doesn't involve pointing fingers. It just involves telling the truth. Benjamin Netanyahu was fearless. Stood up to a president that nobody to date has had the courage to stand up to....It was wonderful to see. Bibi Netanyahu.

h/t the Limbaugh website for the pics.

Stand With Israel

Barack Obama does not represent me or my values (or my country either, as far as I'm concerned). This is the Certificate of Honour given to my great-uncle, Jan Roorda and his wife Rein, awarded to them by the Yad Vashem for their heroism in saving Jewish families during WWII. They were part of the Dutch resistance during the time that the Netherlands was occupied by Nazi Germany. They and others in their town stood with the Jews and took care of "about one hundred" people in hiding, according to Uncle Jan. Jan and Rein Roorda received the Medal of the Righteous, and their names are inscribed on the Honour Wall in the Garden of the Righteous at Yad Vashem, Jerusalem.

Here's what Rush Limbaugh had to say about Obama's "big, big" middle east speech yesterday. Limbaugh believes that Obama is feeling his oats because of the Osama assassination. Obama's foreign policy is "reelect Barack Obama in 2012."

All right, so now we know, ladies and gentlemen, it is official, and the instincts of many, including mine, were correct. The Arab Spring is an uprising of Middle Eastern nations against Israel, and they have been aided and abetted by President Barack Obama of the United States of America. That's what's going on, and that's what this speech was all about.

Obama wants Israel to go back to the 1967 borders, which would include giving up buffer areas like the Golan Heights. Although Limbaugh says also that going back to the 1967 borders is "not that big a deal" to the Israelis, that apparently it was going to be a bargaining chip that Netanyahu was prepared to use, but he can't use it now because Obama beat him to it and gave it away. So instead of the 1967 borders being an end-point in the negotiation, Netanyahu has been handed the issue as a starting point. The real issue, says Limbaugh, is the "right of return," meaning that Palestinian refugees from 1948 demand a return to their homes in pre-1967 Israel. That's something that the Israelis will never agree to and the Palestinian's won't compromise on, so realistically there can never be a two-state solution. So really Obama's speech was pure grandstanding, which if true would be pure Obama.

Israel's Prime Minister Netanyahu, who is obviously more of a diplomat than Obama (although my goofy black Lab named Docker is more of a diplomat than Obama), replied to Obama's speech: "The viability of a Palestinian state cannot come at the expense of Israel's existence." He also called the pre-1967 borders "indefensible."

OK, this is obviously a complex issue, and I'm not sure I understand all the nuances. This is from Fox News: Though Israel occupied East Jerusalem, along with the West Bank and Gaza Strip, in the 1967 Six Day War, Obama said Thursday that the "future of Jerusalem" remains to be worked out, as does the fate of Palestinian refugees.

A leading Jewish American group, ZOA (Zionist Organization of America) is calling for AIPAC to rescind their invitation to Obama, where he is scheduled to speak on Sunday. AIPAC is the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, America's pro-Israel lobby. The AIPAC website says the conference will include more than 10,000 delegates from all 50 states, among them more than 1,500 students from 400 college campuses. Even before Obama's speech on Thursday, AIPAC had sent out an email telling attendees not to boo Obama.

Here is what ZOA had to say about Obama's speech on Thursday.

President Obama is either extraordinarily naïve or extraordinarily hostile to the Jewish state of Israel, despite his claims of commitment to Israel’s security. One cannot claim to care about a neighbor’s young children while renting out rooms to child predators.

It is breath-taking, shocking and frightening that at a time when the Nazi-like terrorist group Hamas (a proxy of Iran), whose charter calls for the murder of every Jew (Article 7) and Israel’s destruction (Article 12), merges with Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah, forming a unity government, Obama can now call for a PA state and on the ’67 indefensible lines yet. Obama was recently given a Noble Peace Prize; he should now receive the Nobel War Prize for increasing the likelihood of a Mideast war and endangering Israel’s very xistence....President Obama mindlessly and shockingly ignores all this vile hatred, vile actions, and continuing threats. The last thing the world needs, Mr. Obama, is another Islamist terrorist state.

As Congressman Allen West (R-FL) of Florida said today, “Today’s endorsement by President Barack Obama of the creation of a Hamas-led Palestinian state based on the pre-1967 borders, signals the most egregious foreign policy decision his administration has made to date, and could be the beginning of the end as we know it for the Jewish state."

Today, we are ashamed of and frightened by America’s policy regarding Israel. The ZOA prediction several years ago that President Obama will become the most hostile president to Israel ever, has come true. Helen Thomas, Rashid Khalidi, Ali Abuneimah, J Street, and George Soros, and every anti-Semite in America, are surely thrilled by this speech.  All thhose who love peace, justice, and Israel – are not.

We urge friends of Israel and enemies of Islamist terrorism to contact your Members of Congress to fight against Obama’s anti-Israel policy.

The Jews in America who voted for Obama had better wake up. Because after they're finished with Israel, they're coming for you. And the rest of us in America, particularly my liberal friends who would rather go on with their nice lives and not pay attention to what's going on in the world, had better wake up too.

First they came for the communists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for me,
and there was no one left to speak out for me.
--Pastor Martin Niemoller, 1892-1964

Updates. I'm looking around the internet, trying to find some other responses to The Barack's speech.

Here's something from and Israeli news source: Netanyahu associate: Obama detached from reality. --"Obama apparently does not understand the reality in the Mideast."

Something from The NYT: Obama and Netanyahu, Distrustful Allies, to Meet. The article says that "Obama has told aides and allies that he does not believe that Netanyahu will ever be willing to make the kind of big concessions that will lead to a peace deal." The article also characterizes a phone call between Netanyahu and Hillary Clinton on Thursday as "furious"--and then of course, The NYT writer says, in full Obama-suckup-mode: "Obama did not back down." Oh. Gag. Me.

Obviously one of the big issues that Netanyahu is trying to deal with is coming this September, when the U.N. General Assembly is set to vote on Palestinian statehood. Netanyahu is counting on Mr. Obama, says the NYT article not only to veto the vote in the Security Council, but also to lean on America's European allies to get them to reject the vote as well.

There's some background in the NYT article about why Obama chose Thursday for his Middle East address. According to this article, Netanyahu heard about Obama's plans for the Middle East address, so he alerted Republican leaders that he would like to address a joint meeting of Congress, which he will do on Monday. So the White House timed Obama's speech on Thursday to make sure he went first.

An article in The Jerusalem Post, PM slams Obama call for 'Palestine' based on '67 lines, called Netanyahu's repsonse to Obama's speech "quick and bitter."

Here's columnist Linda Chavez at the Washington Examiner, Obama abandons Israel, saying that Obama's Middle East speech on Thursday will come back to haunt him. Her take on the issue is that Obama wants unilateral territorial concessions from Israel in return for empty promises. I think I heard Charles Krauthammer say the same thing, something like, Israel is asked to give up land in return for promises--not a good bargain. Chavez's last line: "Obama has abandoned Israel. Now it's time that Israel's supporters in the U.S. abandon him.

Here's a radio interview with Melanie Phillips, saying that the Obama administration believes Israel is "expendable." Phillips is the author of a fascinating book, Londonistan.

HotAir makes an interesting point this morning. This seems like a WTF? moment in Obama's speech yesterday that went little noted: "As for security, every state has the right to self-defense, and Israel must be able to defend itself--by itself--against any threat."

So did Obama just say that the U.S. won't defend Israel if attacked?

Obama is making Glenn Beck look like a visionary as he focuses these days on Israel and his "restoring courage" event this summer.

Taking a Break

I'm finding things in general on the political scene to be just too depressing for words right now, so I'm taking a little break from the blog for awhile. I'm not sure whether the break will be long or short, but I hope you will rejoin me when I return.

Is everybody just about sick of the "gutsy Obama" meme?

If you hear someone referring to the "chipmunk in the small chair" photo, that would be the one at the left.

You would think Dude Obama has "former Navy SEAL" on his resume, the way he's being gushed over for ACTUALLY MAKING A HARD DECISION. Everybody's seen it, right? It's already been described as an "iconic photo," posted on the White House website last Monday, purportedly a shot of O's security team watching the raid on the Osama compound in Abbottabad.

Jim Hoft at Gateway Pundit spells out in detail the various stories the White House has put out about this one photo:

1. There was the AP report that said Obama and his team "monitored the strike on Osama bin Laden's compound in real time, watching and listening to the firefight that killed the terrorist leader."

2.  There was the story that White House press sec'y Jay Carney told the press: "The president and his top national security aides in the Situation Room had available to them minute-by-minute updates on the operation, and that photograph was taken during the operation."

3. Then there was a walkback of that story from Leon Panetta, reported by The Telegraph: Leon Panetta, director of the CIA, revealed there was a 25 minute blackout during which live feed from cameras mounted on the helmets of the special forces was cut off."

4. Then on Sunday there was White House security advisor Tom Donilon telling Chris Wallace on Fox News on Sunday that he wasn't sure what they were watching when the photo was taken.

5. And finally (and of course this won't be the end of it), we have Obama on Sunday night in his interview on "60 Minutes" who said in answer to a simple question about whether they could hear the gunfire, Obama said they had a sense of when gunfire and explosions took place." Huh??? "But," big Zero added, they "could not get information clearly about what was happening inside the compound."

Well, that's a pretty damned far walkback from the original report that they were "watching and listening" to the firefight that killed Osama.

What can you do with such serial fabulists? Well, you can take a page from Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals: Rule #5--"Ridicule is man's most potent weapon."

This is from Wendy Chamberlain in the Green Room at HotAir: "In an attempt to make the Jr. Chipmunk sitting in the small chair in the so-called "iconic" photo seem more than he is, we have our word of the day spread by the usual suspects: GUTSY. The article is hilarious and worth the read.

One of the astute commenters, "mount hood" over at GatewayPundit had this to say this morning: I laughed so hard about the chipmunk comment that I almost wet myself. I had a mental image of the Army General arriving in the room early and alone just so he could screw that adjustable height government issued chair down to its lowest setting, then sitting back with a smile on his face while our President-in-Training came in to take the eyes-just-above-the-level-of-the-tabletop-chair view, sort of like those old WW II Kilroy was here cartoons, Kilroy peeking over a fence. I wonder where Obama hid the mirror since 40 minutes would be a long time for him go without looking at an image of the smartest man in the room!

Hood, you nailed it! Haha.

Exit Question: So was the plan to get Osama bin Laden one of those things that Obama has been whining about INHERITING from the Bush administration? Just askin'.

Update. The Marvel Comic version of the "iconic photo."

Birthers vs. "Racers"

This is from NewsBusters, Tony Katz, talk show radio host, appearing on MSNBC News Live with Contessa Brewer, whoever she is--do people really still watch MSNBC? Whatever. Anyway, I like Katz's point: media members and other people who blame all criticism of Barack Obama on the color of his skin are "Racers." Let's hope the term catches on.

Katz: But this whole idea of race, you know what, if there are birthers and they're all crazy and silly for actually wanting to see a birth certificate, well let's talk about the racers, the people who believe that everything is a conspiracy about race. It's Obama’s race that people want to see the birth certificate. It's Obama’s race that people don't like the out of control spending. It's not his race. It's that he's awful. The policies are terrible. ObamaCare is a lie and a failure. QE1 and QE2 didn't work. It's crazy.



For another article about the Left wanting to resurrect the "racism" theme, see Douglas Herz at American Thinker: "The Racism Racists." It seems the Left has chosen its 2012 presidential campaign theme: racism. But a legitimate question to ask is: who are the real racists?